Bluewater Health may use proxy data after record-keeping disruption

Bluewater Health’s clinical data for its recently ended fiscal year may be marked with an asterisk.

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The hospital corporation, which was hit with a cyberattack last October, is still missing the last eight months of clinical data from its April 2023 to March 2024 fiscal year, said corporate services vice-president Marlene Kerwin.

Staff were using paper records when systems were down after the cyberattack, she said.

“We’re just kind of getting back up and running now, with those (systems),” she said.

Bluewater Health’s Meditech hospital information system (HIS) has been restored enough to be effectivechief executive Paula Reaume-Zimmer said, as the hospital prepares to upgrade its medical records system in November.

But with data from the interim period still missing, a solution is needed, and “backloading” paper records months after the fact could be problematic, Kerwin said.

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“You’re pretty much taking a manual chart and . . . having to put that into the computer system,” she said.

“So if there’s a piece of information missing. . . when you’re doing it in real time, you follow up and you get your questions answered and you know that you’ve got good data quality.”

Following up eight months later, it’s unlikely people will remember the nuances and “we’re just concerned. . . there might be some (data) gaps,” she said, noting backloading would also be a big job for already busy workers.

Spotty record-keeping could affect hospital funding, where Health Ministry funding is based on costs per weighted case and other factors, she said.

So, the ministry is considering letting Bluewater Health use its 2022-23 clinical data as a proxy, Kerwin said, noting that data seems to be comparable with 2023-24, based on visits and other information.

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“It’s a better option to do that if they’re going to be using the weighted case information to inform future funding than to try and backload information that might disadvantage us” because of missing aspects, she said.

It’s not clear yet when the ministry will decide, she said.

“They sort of said, ‘stay tuned.’”

Record-keeping is continuing as normal for the current 2024-25 year, she said.

“It’s a very unique situation that we’re in,” she said, adding “I think we’re all looking forward to being able to move forward with our new HIS.”

Meanwhile, Bluewater Health has pushed its annual general meeting back, given financial information only recently became available, Kerwin said.

The hospital group’s board recently approved holding the legislatively required meeting before the end of September, but no date has been set, Kerwin said.

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“The audit started late and the audit is taking more time because of the down time related to our cyberattack, and how we had to do some manual processes,” she said.

“We are hoping to have (the AGM) some time in August, but it’s unconfirmed at this point.”

HAS global tech issue because of a cybersecurity software update, meanwhile, was Friday causing delays in the emergency department, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and diagnostic imaging, Bluewater Health officials said in a news release, noting the tech issue was not a cyberattack.

Patients with affected appointments were being contacted directly, officials said in the release, thanking people for their patience.

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